Just my 2 cents:

Regarding the fireflies idea, I can at least tell that even with a captured firefly in your inventory, no prompt to release it appears when near any of the known Odin's Rune...

I followed the Bran letters last night, because I realized I had missed that "story", and caught a firefly in the ruins by letter#3, so I thought to myself, why not try?

I can also confirm, since a lot of people think the mystery's linked to the number 9, that having 9 fireflies in Raventhorpe also does nothing... (Since the one I caught last night was my tenth, I've had 9 in Raventhorpe ever since I tried solving this.)

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On another note, I've seen a few people saying "I already checked that area, no need to do it again", but missing a rune is so easy that the more of us to check a given area the better IMHO. What a single pair of eyes can easily miss will eventually be seen by additional ones.

As I just posted in the other thread on the subject, there's a longer version of the dialog file (in french) which was leaked... (Don't know how to post a link to the video here though sorry.)

To summarize what can be made out of the dialog:
1) Eivor meets an old woman who asks to fight and happens to be a very strong opponent despite her appearance.
2) It is this woman who hands Eivor the Eye of Odin.
3) the woman mentions that the talisman she possesses must be charged through combat at specific altars which can be found all over Mercia.

This therefore makes me think the Odin Runes are actually linked to the upcoming Mastery Challenges...

Can we call the mystery solved?

Here are the latest things I checked regarding Bran/the mask of Janus:

1) re-reading through the thread here, I thought the tombstone found near page#3 might bear a clue. However, since I was in Raventhorpe when I logged out yesterday, I went and checked at Octavius' first and this same tombstone can be found at least 4 times in and around his house. So it is highly likely it's just a "common asset" re-used throughout the game, hence not a clue at all.

2) Then I wanted to check if the bronze "Victories" (the statues of winged women) found near each letter could all be pointing to another location. But first I realized that, unlike near the 1st and 3rd pages, there is no Victory directly adjacent to the location of page#2 (there is one a bit further, but not in real close vicinity). And finally, the one by page#1 looks directly south, the one not-that-close to page #2 looks to the North-North-West and the one by page#3 looks to the North-North-East, so there is no intersection point.

3) Since I was in that area anyway, I also checked in the middle of the triangle formed by the locations of the pages. But found nothing of interest there.

So, all I did is prove these ideas are just dead-ends, but I thought I'd share anyway, if just to save someone else to waste time checking those avenues.

@shovelator

Was awaken by an idea (yes, my brain just won't stop even while I'm sleeping)...

Since the altar stones have a hole, maybe the "specific time" is when the sun shines through it? And whatever the direction of the shadow at that moment would give us one of these lines which are "hard to see"?

There might also be a point in time when the sun, shining through the hole, hits a specific point hence activating a prompt of some kind?

If no one feels like staying a whole in-game day at one of the altars just to check this, I will do so on monday... (And if anyone feels like trying, I'd start with one of those that clearly point to a rune, just because...)

I just had the same issie exept I had upgraded it to Mythical quality and boosted the stats to the max...

It's actually the thousands of iron i've spent for nothing that are really [censored] me off!

Since I've already cleared the map of all (small) chests, iron is becoming a rarer commodity than anything else (I have to rely on the 200iron/hour from the shop and the iron found "in the wild" now)... So I'll never be able to re-upgrade it without grinding for days.

It's the Bear Claw axe reseting that is bugging me the most since I've been using it from the start as my off-hand weapon and now I have to make do with another one which is far less powerful since I haven't finished upgrading it (it's at mythical but there's still 3 empty "slots" in it's power bar)...

@duskdragon56496

I do understand that we've been finding new runes faster and more regularly before, but it also seems logical to me that the less of them left, the harder it becomes...

And given how "out of the way" the 5th one was compared to the others, I wouldn't be surprised if the remaining ones (if there are) would be in even more remote areas, where few of us ever set foot, or much better hidden (like in a cave, or behind a tree growing right by a cliff, etc...)

The last thing I checked before the firefly thing was the region of south-eastern Suthexe (South of Crawleah) because someone pointed that if you drew a line from the one near Raventhorpe to the one on the Southern coast and drew another from the last rune which was found to the one in Hatumshire (sp?), you ended up with 2 lines of very similar length and almost parralel to each other, so I thought if I draw another similar line starting from the one in East-Anglia, where would it end up?

Ok, this was apparently a dead-end but we won't be sure of it until at least a few others checked around too, I could easily have missed something, walked right by a clue without even realizing what was right under my nose...

All I'm saying is, we've got bigger numbers on our side now, let's put this to good use! All we can do is explore new ideas and new areas until we stumble upon something.

Edit: spelling

Could we get some feedback and the insurance that the issue will be looked into?

Because, I know from googling the issue that although we're only 2 to have reported it on these forums (so far) there's been many more hit with this glitch...

I won't bother with the actual maths but to upgrade each piece it takes over 1000 iron, multiply this by 6 (each armor piece + the axe) and in this "small" glitch one can loose over 6000 iron!

And since, thanks to the store, we know that to get 6000 iron I'd have to buy either the big pack of ressources or the big pack of silver, which are both priced at 2000H, it means this glitch "robbed" me of 19,90€ worth of iron.

As far as the Bran/Brendan "name play" is concerned, I'll just point to another even more direct one:

Brendan, son of Finnlug --- Lug the Polymath (the Isu who left a stele in Myrddin's Cave which says, once translated "In war and in love there is only one goal; The search for a better future.")

Probably not much to do with anything, but it crossed my mind...

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And as long as we're looking into names:

While looking into the names of the places we've visited in Glowecestrescire to try and solve this, I couldn't help but notice that the Assassin's office (and page#2) are within the Temple of Ceres, the roman equivalant of Greek Demeter, who's the mother of Persephone, known as Proserpina to the romans and whose common representation is a woman holding a bowl (just like the very common asset used in the game)...

Probably not much here either, but just for the sake of completion, I thought I'd share...

@azullfr Well, I'm on PS4 too, and used one of my old saves from before doing it last year, and I can say the quests did not have the most major bugs that impacted a lot of us (the quests markers were in the right place this time, not in the middle of the sea, for example).

There's still bugs, but none keeping you from finishing the quests, at least as long as you keep going through the quest until its end without fast travelling away or start another one before seeing it through...

The only bug I encountered was the keg of mead being invisible, its texture not loading, but since it was still possible to interact with it and carry it to the destination, it was not a major issue.

I'm not saying it's perfect, but pretending they left it in as bad a state as it used to be on release is far from the truth.

@hroozenbeek

I didn't want to go "too wild" either, but I must admit the idea that Brendan was a Sage did cross my mind...
Brendan being a Sage, or at the very least of Isu descent, would make sense since, to see the symbols at each Standing Stones, it requires the Isu sense known to us as Odin's Sight/Eagle Vision...
(Oh, and I checked just because I had to, Finnlug means "Lug the bright".)

For the Temple of Ceres/Demeter, the fact that she's the mother of Proserpina/Persephone, an Isu we met in AC:Odyssey, just seemed funny enough to be worth mentionning.
Nodens being the King of the realm of the Dead, he could be Hades, yet another we've already met in Odyssey...
And if the theory that Aletheia is none other than the Jotun (whose name eludes me right now) with whom Loki fathered Fenrir, then the Jotuns are the Greek Gods.

Like I said, I don't think there's much to find following these avenues, but I just felt like sharing...

@azullfr Let me be clear, I'm not trying to defend ubisoft at all. But I think things are bad enough as they are that there's no need to overdo it, even if only by implying it instead of straight saying it.

They fixed the major game breaking bugs which were not caused by player "unexpected interactions" (like fast travelling in the middle of the quest, or starting another quest without finishing the current one first) and just left it at that... And it's not enough for sure.

Any argument against someone only gains from being made in a fair and honest way. So, yes, they released it completely broken, and yes, they only fixed the strict minimum. No one can say otherwise.

However, even if it can merely be interpreted out of the criticism that they did nothing at all, it just gives them an easy way to dismiss it, just by claiming "this criticism is unfair/dishonest." And change nothing at all in the way they do things.

@azullfr Well, I'm on PS4 too, and used one of my old saves from before doing it last year, and I can say the quests did not have the most major bugs that impacted a lot of us (the quests markers were in the right place this time, not in the middle of the sea, for example).

There's still bugs, but none keeping you from finishing the quests, at least as long as you keep going through the quest until its end without fast travelling away or start another one before seeing it through...

The only bug I encountered was the keg of mead being invisible, its texture not loading, but since it was still possible to interact with it and carry it to the destination, it was not a major issue.

I'm not saying it's perfect, but pretending they left it in as bad a state as it used to be on release is far from the truth.

Same problem... Missing 1 skill point, only getting Mastery points... Stuck at 475. Save on cloud. PS4

Same here. Snow but no festival. Save is on the cloud.PS4

@kormac67 There is indeed "strange" conditions that come into play... I've never tried the situation you mention, but it makes sense that an enemy attacking you would then count as "necessary".

But there is one condition which can be abused quite easily: Only the enemies within the "Restricted Area" count for the requirements.

And that means that as soom as they get out of the zone where it's actually written at the top of your screen, even if still within the borders of the "red area", they don't count for the requirement anymore.

Thus, it no longer matters, as soon as they cross that line, if they spot you they won't trigger the "remain undetected" clause (careful though, for if another enemy is within "hearing" range of this one when he spots you the other gets activated too and still being within the area itself will trigger the clause)...

And, a lot more useful to know, you can kill an enemy who walked out of the limits of the area without trigerring the "unnecessary deaths" clause, so if you really need to get rid of a few guys patrolling close to the edge of the area to get to your target, attracting them out of the area before dealing with them is an option.

(The only thing I haven't tested is if they don't trigger the "Take no damage" one, but I don't see why they would given how it works with the other two requirements.)

The system is wacky, but sometimes it's in our favor

As long as "remain undetected" is the only requirement, it's easy, just kill everyone without getting spotted (sniping is indeed the easy way, poison arrows are even easier.)

When it comes with "no unnecessary deaths" however, it can indeed require some creative use of the whistle to split up groups if the targets are near other guards.
Sleep arrows can indeed be useful, specially to non-lethally deal with guards in towers, who will spot you from very far away, but not always necessary.

The method I use the most, however, is to simply sneak into a bush/hay stack, or behind a wall corner, nearby to the intended target, whistle, and just assassinate... (No need for a kill confirmation means less time exposed, and less chances to get spotted.)

Even if detection is indeed wacky sometimes, it's still do-able

As I just posted in the other thread on the subject, there's a longer version of the dialog file (in french) which was leaked... (Don't know how to post a link to the video here though sorry.)

To summarize what can be made out of the dialog:
1) Eivor meets an old woman who asks to fight and happens to be a very strong opponent despite her appearance.
2) It is this woman who hands Eivor the Eye of Odin.
3) the woman mentions that the talisman she possesses must be charged through combat at specific altars which can be found all over Mercia.

This therefore makes me think the Odin Runes are actually linked to the upcoming Mastery Challenges...

Can we call the mystery solved?

Well, just saw a video in french which contains a much longer version of the leaked dialog file which mentions the Eye of Odin (the one in Dark Stryder's video).
(I don't know how to post that video here unfortunately but it's by french youtuber SLAPP, if anyone more versed in the workings of the forums is willing to do so.)

The longer file mentions an old woman who asks to fight Eivor. She's apparently a very strong opponent (in a line of dialog Eivor says she's akin to "the Shield Maidens of legends") and she's the one who ends up giving the Eye of Odin to Eivor...
So we should no longer be looking for the Eye itself now, but for that old woman.

However, in one line of dialog the Old Woman also mentions altars, which can be found all across Mercia, where the amulet must be charged through combat... This part makes me think the whole Odin Rune mystery is actually linked to the forthcoming Mastery Challenges.

Mystery solved?

Just don't buy it and don't use it...

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There's plenty of silly looking outfits/naval packs which were in the game since day 1, the Unicorn naval pack is the most infamous example IMHO.

And the modern day armour can be explained with the same reason which they used to justify its presence in Odyssey, or the presence of the Final Fantasy items in Origins:
The Animus that is used in these games is slightly different, allowing a user who's not from the lineage of an assassin to re-live his memories, it simply requires a bit of DNA from the assassin in question... But it has a flaw, it lets some of the things in the user's mind "bleed" into his perceptions of the past.

Hence why Layla, a fan of Final Fantasy (given the sticker on her car and the action figure on her desk in Origins) imagined seeing the weapons and mount, while the historical truth was different... Hence why, after being attacked by Abstergo troops in Odyssey, Layla could have this appearance "bleed" into her vision of the events, even if it's not true to the ancient events...
And the same explanation remains true in Valhalla...

I'm not saying this explanation makes a lot of sense, but the appearance of modern day "inspired" weapons and mounts is in no way new to Valhalla.

In truth, I believe it's just a lame attempt to justify throwing in the game stuff that doesn't belong there, but it's been going on for the last 3 games and if they continue doing it it's most likely because a part of the player base buys and uses these.

I've had the same issue and can confirm it is indeed a pain.

I managed to fix it by traveling to another country (I was in Ireland when that happened, so I merely traveled back to England)...

Hope it works for you!